Iddrisu Merri, Poku Collins Atta, Mensah Eva, Attafuah Priscilla Y A, Dzansi Gladys, Adjorlolo Samuel
School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana.
Department of Nursing, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.
BMC Nurs. 2023 Jun 19;22(1):210. doi: 10.1186/s12912-023-01368-9.
Nurses and midwives have been stretched by the COVID-19 pandemic amidst the heroic roles they have played during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nurses stood tall among their peers in the healthcare industry saving lives. The pandemic has had a toll on nurses physically, psychologically, and socio-economically. The numerous deaths have traumatized nurses coupled with the fear of possible infection. Nurses have seen their colleagues and loved ones lose their lives to the pandemic, nevertheless, they still render care to patients no matter the circumstances. Due to that, it is imperative to ascertain the extent to which nurses who are much needed in healthcare delivery have been affected by this pandemic. This scoping review used Arksey and O'Malley's review methodology to investigate the nature of work-related psychosocial challenges nurses encountered during the peak of the pandemic, noting the major contributors to the challenges and the coping strategies used to address them.
We performed a scoping review and searched for articles from five databases including PUBMED, CINAHL, SCOPUS, Google Scholar, and Grey literature from December 2019 to December 2021. A total of 7,334 articles were retrieved for the study but 45 met the inclusion criteria.
Work-related psychosocial challenges identified included stress, burnout (emotional exhaustion and depersonalization), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, depression, sleeplessness, and anxiety. Factors that accounted for the challenges were inadequate personal protective equipment (PPEs), discomfort using the PPEs, extreme workload, and fatigue. Nurses experienced job insecurity, business closure, and separation from family and loved ones, and these contributed to their challenges. Strategies used to deal with the challenges centred on emotion-focused and problem-focused coping.
The study recommends regular counselling and support for all nurses working at the frontline to help them better cope with the devastating effects of the pandemic so that they could build resilience towards future pandemics.
在新冠疫情高峰期，护士和助产士承担着英勇的职责，同时也面临着巨大压力。在医疗行业中，护士在拯救生命方面表现卓越。疫情对护士的身体、心理和社会经济状况都造成了影响。大量死亡事件给护士带来创伤，同时他们还担心可能被感染。护士目睹同事和亲人因疫情丧生，但无论情况如何，他们仍继续为患者提供护理。因此，必须确定医疗服务中急需的护士受疫情影响的程度。本范围综述采用阿克西和奥马利的综述方法，调查疫情高峰期护士所面临的与工作相关的社会心理挑战的性质，指出挑战的主要促成因素以及应对这些挑战所采用的策略。
我们进行了一项范围综述，在包括PUBMED、CINAHL、SCOPUS、谷歌学术和灰色文献在内的五个数据库中检索2019年12月至2021年12月的文章。共检索到7334篇文章用于该研究，但45篇符合纳入标准。
确定的与工作相关的社会心理挑战包括压力、倦怠（情感耗竭和去个性化）、创伤后应激障碍、抑郁、失眠和焦虑。造成这些挑战的因素包括个人防护装备（PPE）不足、使用PPE时的不适、极端工作量和疲劳。护士经历了工作不安全、业务关闭以及与家人和亲人分离，这些都加剧了他们的挑战。用于应对挑战的策略主要集中在以情绪为中心和以问题为中心的应对方式上。
该研究建议为所有一线护士提供定期咨询和支持，以帮助他们更好地应对疫情的破坏性影响，从而增强对未来疫情的抵御能力。
